Wadi Mangal Lake

We have been hunting for relatively short (few hours) hikes, close to Muscat, possibly with water pools. We have found a couple (hours spent on Instagram and Facebook is justified 😄) - and Wadi Mangal has to take the top price so far. It is a fun hike with huge (and I mean easily house size) boulders and with a nice, deep (and cold) lake at the end. The water presence is eminent throughout the whole wadi - you can hear it drip and flow as you walk, almost therapy-like. And it was a good workout as well!

Best for: bouldering and swimming in a cold mountain lake

Best time to visit: any, not recommended if there is risk of rain

Pools: yes 

Marked: no

Location for parking: 23.0571,58.8748

Location for trail head: same as parking

Location for end of the hike: 23.0433, 58.8739 (location of the lake)

Difficulty: medium

Total time: 4-5 hours

Distance: around 6 km

Elevation difference: 430m

Car: 4WD, although might be possible to drive on the dirt road with a 2WD car

Kids: not for toddlers 

Summer: yes

Wikiloc trail

Wadi entrance - easy dirt track

After parking the car, the first part of the walk leads along the plantations - there was a local guy in flip-flops quickly leaving us behind.

In some parts the rock formations were just incredible - looked like a crumbled-up paper.

And water was abundant - the sound of it was so relaxing. 

The boulders got HUGE towards the end of the wadi

And we met this "little" fella (with tail, he was close to 1m). He was a patient model too!

Where is the lake?

Here it is!

The lake was surrounded by really tall walls and probably hardly ever got sun thus it was very cold.